Jesika Peterson
FHS Final Project
I was born on May 16, 1997 at 5:56 P.M. at Alta View Hospital. I was 19 inches in height
and I weighed 7 lbs. 6 oz. I have a 20-year-old half sister that is half Hawaiian. We have the
same mom, but different biological dads. She’s never met her biological dad, so I’ve lived with
her my whole life. I don’t consider her my “half sister.” She’s just my sister. I had another sister
that passed away when I was 2. She was born on January 26, 2000 and died on March 3, 2000.
She died from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). I don’t remember her, but I always feel
like there’s a part of me missing... She would’ve been 15 this year. I also had a dog named
Freckles. She was a Springer Spaniel. We had to get rid of her and that has affected me greatly.
Dogs are family, so when you get rid of family, it’s going to affect you a lot. I might be the only
one who feels this way.
Growing up, I lived in West Jordan and went to Columbia Elementary. When I was in 3rd
grade, my family and I moved to Murray to live with my grandparents. I continued to go to
Columbia Elementary because my mom was the computer teacher there. When I was in 6th
grade, my family and I moved to Kearns. When I was out of elementary school, I went to a
middle school in West Jordan called Joel P. Jensen. I finished up the school year there. The
summer after 7th grade, I was told that I couldn’t go to that school anymore. I was so upset
because my best friend was going to Joel P. and I was forced to go to another school where I
would have to meet a whole new group of people. So, in 8th grade, I went to Kearns Middle
School. I finished the school year there and then I started 9th grade. I went for the first week and
a half and then I was informed that my parents were going to get a divorce. My mom, sister, and
I had to move back to Murray and I had to go to Hillcrest to finish 9th grade. Then I came to
Murray High.
The event that is the most important would have to be my parent’s divorce. It hit us all
really hard. My parents got divorced in September of 2012. In the book, it states, “Some research
finds that women suffer from divorce more than men do, but men’s intimacy needs are especially
at risk.” I don’t agree with the first part. When my parents got divorced, we packed up our things
and left my dad all alone in a big house. He was used to seeing my sister and me every day, but
now he could only see us every other weekend and every Wednesday. He was really depressed. I
do agree with the part about men’s intimacy needs. Almost right after the divorce, he got a new
“girlfriend” really fast. He didn’t want to be alone, so he went to the first thing he could find. It
really upset all of us.
The divorce affected my social/emotional development. Socially, I lost all of my
friends because of the move and because we eventually just stopped talking. Emotionally, I
became really depressed, which is very common at this age. When you’re depressed, you have
“less confidence, with more moments of emotional despair and anger.” Even your self-esteem
gets lower.
“Parent-adolescent relationships affect every aspect of adolescent development.” Because
of the divorce, I was able to develop a better relationship with both of my parents. In the book, it
also states “disputes are common because the adolescent’s drive for independence, arising from
biological as well as psychological impulses, clashes with the parents’ desire to maintain
control.” I agree that it would be true, but I never really fought with my parents. They have
supported me through everything and I’ve never had a reason to fight with them.
Another important event would have to be when my sister had to go to Salt Lake
Behavioral Health for a while. She was going through a really hard time because of a certain
person and she was suicidal.
Dealing with that was very hard. We had to have scheduled appointments to see her and
we couldn’t even visit her everyday. This whole situation definitely affected my emotional
development. I felt depressed. I felt like I had nobody. No one understood what I went through
and nobody seemed to care about my feelings. I felt hopeless, which is a part of clinical
depression.
Those are some negative events that have affected my development. Now let’s talk about
some positive events! I got my first job in October of 2013, when I was 16, and I’m still working
there today. I work as a cashier at Shopko. I thought it seemed like a good first job.
Getting a job was a part of my vocational identity. Vocational Identity helps adolescents
decide whether to stay in high school and aim for college. Nobody forced me to get a job; I just
wanted to get one because I wanted to achieve responsibility and independence. I decided that I
did want to stay in high school and I do want to go to college. “No one is expected to be prepared
for a lifetime career by age 16.” I don’t want to work at Shopko for the rest of my life, but, like I
said before, it’s a good job to start out with. You learn how to handle money and how to help
people. You also learn how to be professional and kind.
Another positive event is when I passed the math test at SLCC and I was able to take
Math 1010 and Math 1050. I took Math 1010 last semester and I’m currently taking Math 1050.
Getting into an advanced math class directly affected my cognitive development. Taking
college classes “advances critical thinking and post formal thought.” Post formal thought allows
you to “be more practical, more flexible, and more dialectical, which means being more capable
of combining contradictory elements into a comprehensive whole.”